


Man Child

by AnnaOnTheMoon



Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-01
Updated: 2017-11-01
Packaged: 2019-01-27 23:46:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12593260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnaOnTheMoon/pseuds/AnnaOnTheMoon
Summary: This is for YvetteAdamsFoster who asked for “Something where Jean-Luc was turned into a child (Rascals) but he and Beverly are married and Wesley is their son”. So quite simply, this is a retelling of Rascals. How does Beverly react to having a younger husband?  How does Jean-Luc cope with a twelve-year-old body with adult needs and wants?





	Man Child

**Author's Note:**

> I’m sure I’ve seen a Rascals story that had Beverly and Jean-Luc together, but I thought I would give it a go....So, assume Beverly and Jean-Luc got married instead of Beverly and Jack. Bold text is directly from the script for the episode Rascals. 
> 
> There is NO underage sexual activity, but because it does involve essentially a child in a relationship with an adult, please be warned/advised there will be a child (with the mind of an adult) in sexual situations.

**“I’ve got them.  There’s a forty percent drop in mass. I may have lost one of them...”** Chief O’Brian exchanged a look with Beverly Picard.  Both were thinking the same thought: _I hope it wasn’t my spouse._

As the figures materialised on the transporter pad, Beverly gasped.  Standing on the pad instead of Jean-Luc, Guinan, Ensign Ro, and Keiko O’Brian were four children, no older than twelve.  Two of them – the boy and one of the girls – were dressed in miniature Starfleet uniforms and Beverly could see from the pips on the boy’s collar that his rank was Captain.  Beverly also couldn’t help but notice the strong resemblance of the boy-captain to her own son when he was twelve.  The boy stepped off the pad and began to speak.

 **“Thank you, Mister O’Brian. Another moment and....”** he trailed off as he noticed the sound of his voice.  The boy patted his body in panic.  “What the devil...”

 Beverly eyed the children on the platform.  Clearly, either there had been an accident that had turned the four of them into twelve-year-old children, or someone had kidnapped her husband and the others and attempted to replace them with children...but why?  Beverly indicated for the boy to get back on the transporter pad and followed him up. “Miles, you might as well beam us directly to sickbay...and then you better meet us there.  I’ll alert Commander Riker.”  The small girl who bore a striking resemblance to Keiko reached out and grasped Beverly’s hand.  Beverly leaned down to the girl. “Don’t worry, we’ll figure this out.”

Once they arrived in Sickbay, Beverly began running tests on the children.  Their DNA checked out, and they were definitely the four people they claimed to be...just reverted in age.  Surprisingly, they all were reverted to the same age and it was as if none of them had experienced puberty.  This was a puzzle that was going to take Beverly a while to work out.  In the meantime, she released the children.  Since they had maintained their adult minds, there was no reason to keep them in Sickbay or for them to require supervision.  Jean-Luc leaned in to kiss his wife before he left, and Beverly quickly turned her face so he kissed her cheek instead.  It might _be_ her husband...but she saw a twelve year old boy when she looked at him.  If she didn’t figure out how to fix it soon, she wasn’t sure what they would do. 

###

Beverly found Jean-Luc on the bridge.  “ **Captain, may I see you privately for a moment?”** Jean-Luc nodded and turned towards his ready room. Once inside, he ordered his usual cup of Earl Grey and a cup of lemon tea for his wife.  He settled behind his desk and began looking over the communiqué from Ligos Seven.  **“Jean-Luc...I think we need to talk.”** Jean-Luc slowly nods and takes a sip from his tea.

“You don’t see me as your husband or your captain right now, do you?”

“I’m sorry, Jean-Luc...I never realised how much Wesley favoured you when he was twelve.”

“I...see.  Beverly, it’s still _me_ in here.”

“Hmm, for now.”

“What does that mean?”

“Honestly, Jean-Luc, we simply don’t know anything about this. I don’t know if you will degenerate further or grow or....”

“...or if you’ll be stuck with a twelve year old Captain and husband forever.”

“I....ah....”  Beverly looked at her hands.  “Come on, Jean-Luc. Let’s go to our quarters and discuss this further.”

 **“** Are you **asking me to step down**?”

“What do you think you should do?”

“You may be right. I’ll leave Commander Riker in charge.”  Beverly smiled.  At least her husband’s brain was still his own. 

Jean-Luc exited his ready room and after telling Will he was in charge for the foreseeable future, he left the Bridge with his wife.  He reached out and placed a gentle hand on her back to guide her into the lift and Beverly took comfort in his touch.  As long as she didn’t _look_ at him she could pretend he was still the same man she was married to. 

###

In their quarters, Jean-Luc and Beverly fell into their routines. Beverly changed into more comfortable clothing and wandered into Wesley’s old room to fetch something for Jean-Luc to wear.  She wondered if there was something Freudian about dressing her husband in her son’s clothing, but brushed her thoughts away.  The most important thing right now was making sure Jean-Luc was comfortable and okay.  She passed the clothing to Jean-Luc and he grimaced.  “Beverly, these belong to our son...I can’t wear this!”

“Well, none of your clothing is going to fit, so either you borrow something from Wesley or you go naked.”  Jean-Luc raised his eyebrows at his wife and pulled the zipper on his jumpsuit down.

“Well, if you insist...”

“No! Jean-Luc.  Please wear Wesley’s clothing.”

“Fine. I’m going to take a shower.”

Beverly heard a shriek coming from the bathroom and ran running in to see Jean-Luc, naked, staring down at his body. 

“Jean-Luc, what’s wrong?” 

“Look at me, Beverly!  My balls haven’t even dropped yet!  How can I expect anyone on this ship to take me seriously if my balls haven’t even dropped yet? For gods sake, my _son_ is older than me right now!  I can’t....I don’t know....”  Jean-Luc began to cry. The tears frustrated the old man inside of him, as he hardly ever cried. But as a twelve-year-old on the brink of puberty...his emotions had been all over the place.  

Beverly saw no other option but to gather the naked boy into her arms and to hold him while he cried.  She kissed the top of his head and rocked him back and forth.  “It’s alright, Jean-Luc.  I’ll figure this out. I promise. I want you back to normal just as much as you want to be back to normal.  I won’t let you stay like this.  I promise.  Please, trust me?”  Jean-Luc looked up into his wife’s face with tear-stained eyes and nodded.  He gently cupped her face and leaned his face in to give her a kiss when she pulled away.  Jean-Luc  frowned.

“You don’t even want me to kiss you.”

“Jean-Luc...when I look at you...I know it’s really you, but all I see is a twelve-year-old boy....”

“I see.”

“I’m sorry.  After dinner, I’ll return to the lab and continue to work on this, alright?”  He nodded.  “Wesley’s scheduled to call us tonight.  Should I send him a message to cancel?”

“No.  He needs to know what’s going on.  If I’m going to be....stuck like this...he needs to know now.”

Beverly set out their dinner and Jean-Luc opened a bottle of wine.  Beverly thought about cautioning him on drinking wine with a twelve-year-old body, but shrugged it off. After all, Jean-Luc was French and grew up on a vineyard.  Jean-Luc had been giving Wesley small sips of wine since he was five.  Twelve-year-old Jean-Luc should be able to handle a glass...but maybe only one. 

Wesley had, much to his father’s annoyance, found the whole ordeal hilarious and his image was laughing.  “Hey _Dad_ , if Mom can’t fix you, you can always come to the academy again and be my roommate!”

Somehow, Jean-Luc’s sharp “ _Wesley!_ ” didn’t sound quite as authoritative as it should have, coming out of the mouth of a pre-pubescent twelve-year-old and not his sexagenarian father. 

“Dad, it’ll be cool. We could go out on double dates.....oh, sorry. Hang on, are you and Mom still married?”

“Yes, Wesley. Your mother and I are still married.  _Nothing_ has changed.”

“Dad, what if Mom can’t fix this?”  Jean-Luc’s face fell.  He honestly didn’t know what would happen.  His wife was in her forties and their son was almost twenty. It wouldn’t be fair to Beverly to force her to remain married to someone over thirty years younger than her.  Even if they waited six years until Jean-Luc’s current age would naturally age to eighteen... by then Beverly would be in her fifties and would she really want a young husband?  Then again, he was usually nineteen years older than her and they seemed to work out fine.  “Dad? Are you still there?”  Jean-Luc was brought back out of his wandering thoughts. 

“Sorry, son.  I have the utmost confidence in your mother.  She will figure this out.”

“I hope so too.  Dad?  I love you. Even if you are stuck as a twelve year old....I guess I’ll get the little brother I always wanted.”  Jean-Luc smiled.  “I suppose you will, Wes. And Wes?  I love you too.  Always.   No matter what happens....I’m proud of you.” 

“Thanks, Dad. I gotta go.”

“Alright Wesley.  We’ll contact you later with an update.  Goodnight, son.”

“G’night Dad.”

Jean-Luc sat back from the console and scowled as he noticed his feet didn’t quite reach the floor if he leaned back.  Beverly had returned to her lab to run some tests. She had taken a tissue sample from him and the other ‘children’ to run her experiments on, as well as the seedlings Keiko had brought back with her...which had been fully formed adult plants when they were in the shuttle.  Data was busy analysing the energy field and Geordi had half of engineering going over the debris from their shuttle.  He felt sure there had to be a solution in there somewhere.  Jean-Luc sighed and looked down at his body.  What he really wanted was to relax with a drink, but he wasn’t sure his young body would be able to tolerate the alcohol.  Instead he got up and reached for a book  and settled himself on their settee to wait for Beverly to return, hopefully with good news.

###

Beverly was not having any luck.  She was surprised when she was paged by the switchboard with a call for her, but was overjoyed to see her son’s face in the monitor.

“Wesley!”

“Hi, Mom.  I just talked with Dad...are you...are you alright?”  Beverly’s eyes gleamed with tears and she struggled not to shed them in front of her son. 

“I’ll.....I’ll be fine, Wes.  It’s your father we should be worrying about.”

“Mom....you don’t look fine.  Have you talked to anyone?  Counsellor Troi or Aunt Marie?”  Beverly laughed. “We haven’t told your Aunt Marie and Uncle Robert what happened yet and Deanna has her hands full trying to counsel four twelve-year-olds.  I’m fine, Wes.  I’m just frustrated.”

“Can I help?”

“How well are you doing in your genetics class?” Wesley frowned.

“Uhh....Mom, you know I’m much better at Engineering.”  Beverly smiled at the image of her son.  She supposed if she couldn’t bring back her Jean-Luc, she would have this face to look forward to looking at in a few years time...but would she be in love with him? Could she?  She shook her head and returned her attention to her son. 

“I know.  But thank you for offering.”

“Mom, you look at little distracted.  Should I let you go?”

“I’m sorry, Wes.  I just want to bring your father back.  I don’t think I can handle losing him....” The tears that Beverly had kept at bay finally rolled down her cheeks. 

“Mom, you haven’t lost Dad.  He’s here. You can fix him. I know you can. Dad knows you can, too.”

“Thanks, Wes.  We’ll call you if anything changes, alright? I love you.” 

“I love you too, Mom.  Picard out.”

As the image of her son faded, Beverly rested her head in her arms and wept.  What was she going to do?

###

Beverly returned to their quarters, exhausted and was surprised to see Jean-Luc had changed into a pair of black pyjama pants he must have found in Wesley’s room and a T-shirt.  She had to admit, her husband was kinda cute.

“Ah, there you are Beverly. I was beginning to wonder if you would be spending all night in the lab.”  Jean-Luc went to embrace his wife, which only turned into an awkward hug when Beverly refused to bring her face towards his for a kiss.  “Why won’t you kiss me?”

“Jean-Luc....you’re twelve.”

“On the outside....but in here, I’m still me.  Counsellor Troi agreed with your assessment.”  Beverly sighed and took Jean-Luc’s much smaller hand in hers.

“I know...but when I look at you...I see a child.” Jean-Luc led Beverly over to the settee and guided her to a seated position before he stood over her. He pointed to the small wedding band that adorned his left ring finger.

“Beverly, how many twelve-year-olds do you know who wear a wedding ring?”

“Well, ah, in some cultures they do marry at a young age...”

“ _Beverly_.”  Jean-Luc tried to level a stern gaze at her which only caused her to smile in amusement.

“No, you’re right Jean-Luc.  You are my husband.  And I love you.”

“I love you too, Beverly.  Close your eyes?”  Beverly closed her eyes.  Jean-Luc leaned forward and captured her lips in a kiss. The same passionate kiss she was used to getting from her husband.  She allowed him to deepen the kiss and when his tongue started exploring her mouth, she reached out to touch his face and recoiled as she felt not the familiar stubble-clad cheek of her husband, but a cheek as smooth as a baby’s bottom.  Her eyes flew open and she broke the kiss.  “Jean-Luc....I can’t.  It feels...wrong to want to kiss a child.  Do you understand?  Imagine if you had met me when I was twelve.  Would you have wanted to kiss me then?”

“I...I suppose not.  I thought you were pretty when you were sixteen, but I still waited until you were nineteen before asking you on a date because I felt as though I shouldn’t fall in love with someone your age...and yet, I did.  Beverly, I loved you when you were sixteen.”

“Sixteen is a lot older than twelve.  Developmentally, at any rate.”  Beverly drew her young husband into her arms and held him close.  “I love you Jean-Luc.  I really, really do.  But I don’t know what I’m going to do if we can’t fix this.  I raised one son already...I don’t want to raise another...” 

“You won’t have to.  I know you can solve this.  We should get some sleep.”  Jean-Luc got up and reached out a hand to help Beverly up.  _Bed?  How can I share a bed with him? But I can’t just ask him not to sleep with me...._ “Beverly?” 

“Hmm?”

“Are you coming to bed?”

“Oh, of course, Jean-Luc.  Just let me take a shower first, alright?”  Jean-Luc nodded and headed towards their marital bed.  He wanted to follow his wife into the bathroom and join her in the shower, but somehow he didn’t think Beverly would appreciate it. 

The bathroom door slid shut behind Beverly and she slid to the floor.  This was hard.  She had fallen in love with Jean-Luc when her assigned mentor, Walker Keel, had introduced her to his friend when she came to the Academy for her intake exam. She had been sixteen and had been sure the thirty-five- year-old Captain hadn’t paid a bit of attention to her, so she had been surprised the following year when he remembered her name.  After two years of friendship, he finally had asked her out on a date, and that was it for her.  They dated for three more years and got engaged during her last year of medical school.  She became pregnant on their honeymoon and after Wesley was born, they had joined Jean-Luc on board the _Stargazer_.  Even when Jean-Luc had lost the _Stargazer_ and been reassigned to Headquarters, she and Wesley had followed and she took up a position at Starfleet Medical.  Beverly had never been without Jean-Luc in her adult life.  She always went to him – as her best friend, lover, husband, or captain – if she needed support. But now?  Who could she turn to? 

Beverly dried her tears and got up to start her shower.  She glanced at the nightgown hanging on the bathroom hook and wondered if it was appropriate to wear  while in bed with her child husband, and then shook her head.  His brain was still an adult.  It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen her in less.  She tossed her uniform into the hamper and stepped into the shower.

She was rinsing off her hair when she heard the door slid open and she smiled.  _Jean-Luc must be coming to join me...._ Just as quickly as she had forgotten about their current predicament, it came slamming back into her. She didn’t want a twelve-year-old boy joining her in the shower.  “Jean-Luc?  Did you need something?”

“N....No.  Beverly, I....just wanted to see you.  I...need you...” 

“I’m here, Jean-Luc.  I promise.”  She turned off the shower and reached for a towel before exiting the shower stall. 

“No...I _need_ you.”  Jean-Luc allowed his eyes to roam over his wife’s naked body.  Beverly’s eyes went wide. 

“No.  Jean-Luc. I’m sorry.  I love you so much, but I can’t sleep with you right now.”

Jean-Luc pulled off his T-shirt and tugged down his pyjamas. “Look at me, Beverly. “

“I...ah...can’t.”

“I am your husband.  Husband and wives....they kiss, they make love...Beverly....we haven’t gone a day since our relationship started over twenty years ago without being intimate in some way with each other unless we physically were apart.  I _need_ you to know that things can be normal. To know I won’t....lose you.”

“Oh, Jean-Luc....come on, let’s go to bed.  We can hold each other.”  Beverly reached for her nightgown and tugged it over her head.  She reached over and pulled up Jean-Luc’s pyjamas before holding out her hand to him.  Jean-Luc nodded, and the two exited the bathroom into the bedroom. 

They got into bed and Beverly motioned for Jean-Luc to rest his head on her chest.  She held him in her arms as they both drifted off to sleep, neither sure what tomorrow would bring.

###

When Jean-Luc woke up in the morning, he was embarrassed.  Beverly’s legs were covered in a sticky substance and judging by the state of his pyjamas, he had succumbed to a wet dream -  an experience he hadn’t had in....well, fifty years if he was honest with himself. Jean-Luc gently caressed Beverly’s cheek and leaned down and placed a light kiss on her forehead.  Her eyes fluttered open and the first thing she noticed was the anguished look on young Jean-Luc’s face, and the second thing was the wet feeling covering her legs.  She raised her eyebrows as realisation dawned on her and she stood up and made her way into the bathroom, grabbed a towel, and passed it to Jean-Luc.  “We’ll have the sheets changed. Why don’t you shower first?”

“I’m sorry.”  Jean-Luc’s face was bright red.  Beverly drew Jean-Luc into a comforting embrace.  “Don’t be.  Your body is twelve.  This is...normal for a twelve year old boy, isn’t it?”  He nodded.  “So then don’t be embarrassed or sorry. Remember, I went through this with Wesley...I do remember a few things.”  Beverly gently caressed Jean-Luc’s cheek.  “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

###

Beverly pointed to two diagrams side-by-side on her monitor.  “ **This is Captain Picard’s rybo-viroxic-nucleic structure from a tissue sample I took this morning.  It’s the same as the sample I took before the accident – except it’s missing several key viroxic sequences.”**

Will gave her a blank look.  “I’m sorry...I didn’t do very well in Genetics.” Beverly rolled her eyes.

“You and Wesley.  Puberty.  Jean-Luc and the others are missing the markers for puberty.”

“Can you just...inject them with the....viroxic sequence and fix them?”

“No.  But at least we know that they will eventually grow up on their own if we don’t do anything.”

“Well...I suppose that’s  good thing.”  Beverly glared at Will. “Ok, I take it you have an idea to get our Captain back?”

“Yes.  **I might be able to send them back through the Transporter pattern buffer and replace the missing sequences _._** ” 

Will grinned at his friend. “Then, as our dear Captain would say... ‘Make it so’”.

Beverly conducted more research over the course of the afternoon along with the help of Chief O’Brian who knew the transporters in and out and wanted his wife back just as much as Beverly wanted Jean-Luc back.  _At least Wesley is an adult.  It’s been hard with Molly not understanding what happened to her mother. Let alone what happened with Keiko and I in bed last night. I wonder if Doctor Picard and the Captain...._ Miles shook his head.  While he and Beverly were experiencing the same situation, he knew it wasn’t his place to ask the Doctor about her relationship with their Captain.  Though, if they couldn’t figure out how to put the RVN back into their spouses, they might have to form a support group.

“Chief, take a look at this. I think if you can adjust the molecular imaging scanners to use the previous scans of the adults when you send the children through, we should be able to get them back. What do you think?”

“I can do that, Doctor.   I’ll be in Transporter Room 2 making adjustments.”

“Great. I’ll round up the ‘children’...”

###

“Hmm. Can you shave off a few years, or at least let me keep my hair when I return?”  Beverly grinned. 

“I love you just the way you are, Jean-Luc Picard. Baldness and all.  Now get up on that platform so I can kiss you again.”

“Yes Sir”  Jean-Luc gave a cheeky solute.  Beverly looked over the information she gave Chief O’Brian to program into the transporter for Jean-Luc one more time and satisfied, gave the command.  She watched as the young Jean-Luc disappeared in a shimmer of light to be replaced by her Jean-Luc. 

Jean-Luc patted down his body and ran his hand over his bald head as he stepped off the platform and immediately pulled his wife into his arms.  The other ‘children’ and the chief looked the other way while the couple embraced.  They didn’t usually display affection for each other in front of members of the crew, but an exception could be made in exceptional circumstances.  And this had been, most definitely, an exceptional circumstance.

After Jean-Luc had thoroughly kissed his wife, he pressed his forehead against hers and quietly whispered, “I love you.”  Beverly pulled him into another kiss and then placed her lips close to his ear “I love you too.  And I can’t wait to get you back to our quarters.” 

 

 

 


End file.
